The invention generally relates to an improved mucking rake used in the farm and ranch fields, and in more particularity to a modular mucking rake.
Mucking rakes are a very common tool used in the farm and ranch fields. The rakes are made with multiple tines spaced apart in parallel from each other. These tines are spaced a fixed distance apart, narrow or wide, from each other. This allows material of multiple aggregates, such as saw dust, wood shavings, wood chips, sand and other types of bedding to pass through, while the manure and other larger material is caught in the rake and disposed of.
The wider the tines are spaced from each other, the more material falls through and is not collected. The narrower the tines are spaced to each other, the less material falls through the tines and more debris is collected. Currently, whoever wants a mucking rake must decide on whether to get a mucking rake with narrow or wide fixed spaced tines. These mucking rakes are made of unibody construction so there can be no changes once the rake is purchased.
While most mucking rakes are made of plastic, they are made out of metal for strength. As a result of the metal composition, mucking rakes with metal tines are heavy and burdensome. Plastic mucking rakes are not as strong as metal tines and tend to break more often. Should an individual plastic tine break, the rake is heavily compromised for its intended use and is ineffective. The individual raking with a broken tine would have to repeat the same areas that are already raked and items fall through the broken tine area. Essentially, should a single tine break the whole rake must be replaced.
Further, current mucking rake tines are straight. This requires the individual to take time to carefully sift through the material. The user must shake and sift the material through the rake first then take additional time to shake the rake some more in order to collect the material at the bottom of the rake if the user desires to retain some of the material collected in the rake.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an inexpensive lightweight rake that incorporates individual modular tines that can be easily replaced if broken or damaged, can be variably spaced, and which can offer a variety of shapes and functions to act as an modular and interchangeable farming tool.